Speaker Profile: Maxwell Hutchinson
Architect, author, broadcaster
Maxwell Hutchinson, 56, was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1989 to 1991. He is a practising architect and regular radio and television broadcaster. In the year 2000, he was runner up for the BT Regional News Presenter of the Year Award. He has two weekly features on BBC London 94.9FM covering London’s architecture, landmarks and “Lost London”, which is broadcast live from the streets and covers London’s history. He is well known for his regular feature on BBC London News, “The Max Files”, which ran for over five years, covering areas of hidden London in detail. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s “You and Yours”, “5 Live”, “Late Night Live”, the Jeremy Vine Show and BBC2’s “Newsnight”. He also contributes to various programmes on LBC radio and he also worked on the production team of the Bafta award-winning Radio 4 play “The Dark House”.
Amongst his credits, Maxwell has presented films for BBC “Songs of Praise” and has written and presented a one-hour historical documentary on “Eleanor of Castile (1290)” for Channel Five as well as writing and presenting a 8 x 30 series for BBC 2, “How To Rescue a House” (looking at the history of derelict houses). He also contributed to the book which accompanied the series. More recently, Maxwell presented the programme “Hotel Secrets” (covering The Ritz and The Savoy) for the Discovery Channel and a documentary on “ElthamPalace” for Britain’s Best strand on The UK History Channel. He also presented the programme on the regeneration of Leicester for the BBC series “Building Britain”.
Other credits include “The Good, The Bad and The Listed” for Carlton Television, presenting a 6 x 30 series, “Hidden Treasures” for Anglia TV, as well as contributing to the BBC “Restoration Nation” (BBC4/BBC2). He continues to contribute regularly to BBC Breakfast News and BBC London “Inside Out” for BBC 1.
Maxwell also wrote and presented the 6 x 60 series “No 57, The History of A House” covering the social history of a Georgian House over a 200-year span up to and including the present day for Channel 4 television. His book No. 57’ , The History of A House accompanied the series. He also presented 2 x 60 programmes “Demolition Detectives” for Channel 4 television, three series (90 x 30 minute programmes) for Discovery TV on architecture, engineering and science (“Prefabs and Palaces”, “Mod Cons” and “Pure Inventions”) and two half-hour programmes for BBC2 covering “Glass Houses” and the “London Skyline”. He also presented a four part series for BBC Radio 4, “Let There Be Light” and he was part of the BBC1 ‘live’ commentary team for the Lord Mayor’s Show for four consecutive years.
In between his busy broadcasting schedule, he is developing a number of historical projects for both television and publishing. He is thoroughly enjoying writing his first fictional novel, ‘The Apprentice of Roslyn’, the intriguing truth behind the 15th Century Chapel in Scotland.
Maxwell has recently become a non-Executive Director of SMC Group, a publicly quoted company. He is also the founder and Chairman of “Architects for Aid”, a charity he set up after surviving the Tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004. His architectural practice “The Hutchinson Studio” has recently been appointed as the Architects for the proposed conversion of the Sir Christopher Wren Church of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, near St.Paul’s Cathedral, into the National Centre for Religious Education. His better-known buildings include Skylines on the Isle of Dogs, JS Pathology’s Headquarters at Camden Lock, Aztec Row in Islington and the Pink Floyd’s recording studio in Britannia Row. For ten years he was Chairman of the Permarock Group of Building Product Manufacturing Companies, of which he was a founder. He was a visiting Professor at the University of Westminster and previously at the Universities of Nottingham and Queens Belfast. His controversial book The Prince of Wales Right or Wrong – An Architect Replies was a best-seller (Faber & Faber).
Maxwell is a versatile and humorous speaker and provides highly constructive motivational talks for a wide variety of clients. Amongst his credits he has chaired the “Corus Construction Awards” and a plenary session at the CBI conference in Birmingham, and was the guest speaker for Landor Conferences ‘When Old Buildings Get In The Way’. He is a regular speaker for regional RIBA events and The Museum of London. He has hosted numerous events including “The Timber Trade Journal Awards” at the Savoy Hotel in London, and has acted as a keynote speaker for The Arts Council South East Conference and The Building Research Establishment Limited. More recently, Maxwell acted as keynote speaker and facilitator at a seminar for Rockwool Limited, and presented the Formica corporate video produced in association with the launch of the new Formica Collection and their 90th Anniversary. He has also provided his services as an architectural guest speaker aboard a number of Mediterranean P&O Cruises. Other speaking engagements have included acting as guest speaker for The Hilton Group Special Events; previous talks have included “The Panorama of Architectural History” and “The London History Experience” which has been running for over four years.
Apart from his work, Maxwell enjoys composing music, (one of his works includes writing a requiem mass), playing the piano and the guitar. He is a practising Christian and a lay preacher at the Church of “Our Most Holy Redeemer” in the City of London.
He is also featured in “Who’s Who” and “Debretts”.